Just eight days ago, the White Sox were winners of six games in a row and had more wins than losses. Last Tuesday, the Sox were 18-17, and it was the first time that they were over .500 on the season. The early season critics and pessimists were silent.

Here were are barely a week later, and the Sox are back to mediocrity after losing seven of their last eight. Fingers are being pointed once again, most of them at manager Robin Ventura.

If anyone is in the mood for pointing fingers at people other than Ventura, here are some numbers and players that have contibuted to the team’s struggles:

4.38 – Combined ERA of the team’s “Big 3” starting pitchers (Chris Sale, Jeff Samardzija, and Jose Quintana). These three pitchers were supposed to be the team’s backbone this year. Coming off a season in which they posted ERAs of 2.17, 2.99, and 3.32, respectively, not one of the them has an ERA underneath 4.00 this year.

48 – Stikeouts by Adam LaRoche. Let’s throw in a .216 batting average and the veteran lefty is off to a very Adam Dunn-like start to the season. LaRoche was brought into be the left-handed presence in the batting order that Dunn never was. Thus far, his numbers have resembled that of Dunn’s in frightening fashion.

.231 – Adam Eaton’s batting average. What happened to the Adam Eaton that we saw last year? Defensively, the same player has shown up to the ball park every day, but not offensively. Eaton posted a .300 batting average a year ago, and he also stole 15 bases. So far this season, his bat is nowhere near what it was a year ago; and he has just one stolen base in two attempts. By not getting on base very often, and not doing much of anything while on the bases, Eaton is far from the ideal leadoff hitter that he was in 2014.

3 – Extra base hits by Melky Cabrera. How is that even possible for someone who is as good of a hitter as Cabrera? Last season, he notced 54 extra base hits after posting 35 doubles, 3 triples, and 16 home runs. The power stroke has been absent thus far for the Melk Man in 2015. Cabrera, along with Eaton, are supposed to be the catalysts in the Sox offense as the #1 and #2 hitters. They can be blamed just as much as anyone else for the team’s offensive ineptitude. I could probably count on one hand the times that Jose Abreu has stepped up to the plate this season in the first inning with two men on and zero outs.